Kerala needs `Third Front` against Congress, CPI(M): Narendra Modi

Thiruvananthapuram: Launching his party`s Lok Sabha election campaign in Kerala, BJP`s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Sunday said the state was badly in need of a third front against the coalitions led by Congress and CPI-M which have alternated in power "wasting" opportunities of the `God`s Own Country.`

Addressing a wel attended party rally at the Shankumugham Beach here, Modi wanted the people to introspect whether they want to be ruled alternately by the Congress-led UDF and the CPI(M)-led LDF.

Also Read: Narendra Modi`s Kerala rallies: As it happened
Holding that there was no qualitative difference between the two rival fronts, he said for the last several decades they had been "hoodwinking" the people by engaging themselves in a shadow boxing.

Seizing on the T P Chandrasekharan murder case now dominating the political debate in the state, he said had it not been for the "politics of adjustment" between the two fronts, the slain RMP leader`s wife Rema need not have gone on a fast demanding a CBI probe into the murder of her husband.

He alleged the Communist Party did not believe in democracy and wanted instability for survival whether in Kerala or outside.

Under the rule of these coalitions, Kerala had wasted its huge potential in areas like tourism, holistic medicine and service sectors, he said.

"Why do lakhs of youth from this state go abroad in search of jobs, leaving their parents and beloved ones behind ? It is time that you introspected who is responsible for the plight. These two fronts looted this sacred land. How can we go forward without bringing about a change to this situation ?" he said.
When the whole nation started shifting to the computer
age, the Communists had sought to halt it by propagating that the young ones who learn computer would turn American spies, Modi said.

In the case of development of agriculture, manufacturing and service sectors also Kerala had stagnated over the decades for "delays and indecisiveness" of the ruling fronts.

Stating that Kerala had great potential for spiritual tourism, he said a temple like Sabarimala visited by four crore people annually had been entirely left out from the "Incredible India" campaign for promoting tourism.

In sharp contrast, Jagmohan, who was a Minister in the NDA Government led by A B Vajpayee, had taken great initiative to promote Vishnovi Devi temple when he was Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, he said.

At the ouset, Modi paid rich tributes to the erstwhile royal rulers of Travancore who considered themselves as the "Padmanabhadasas" and preserved immense treasures of the Padmanabhaswamy temple.

BJP national President Rajnath Singh, party leaders Subramaniam Swamy, Bandaru Dattatreya, state president V Muraleedharan and national secretary P K Krishnadas and senior leader O Rajagopal also addressed the gathering.